Mike S.
Service Attendant
So about 2 weeks ago I needed to get to New Jersey for a conference. I booked our tickets very close to the travel date, so flying to NJ from Buffalo was $$$$, but JetBlue is always cheap to NYC. So we drove the rest of the way. Flying from Buffalo to NYC got me thinking.
The Empire Corridor is a targeted High Speed Corridor, but not much progress yet. Now...it's basically 8.5 hours Buffalo to NYP. Thats long. It's REALLY long compared to a 1h5m plane ride. Or is it?
Here is how my flight went:
Arrive at Buffalo Niagara International: 3:40PM
Flight Departure Time: 5:10PM
Touch Down at JFK: ~6:15PM
Taxing/Gate Delays, Get off Plane: ~6:30PM
Shuttle Bus from temporary gate to permanent gate, walk to JFK Loop Train, Ride train to Rental Car, Pick Up Car: ~7:25PM
Wow. So basically 4 hours and I'm still at JFK. If I wanted to get to Manhattan, I'd skip the rental car and either take a cab (another 50 bucks and 30 minutes) or take the subway from Jamaica Station into Manhattan (a few bucks and more like 45mins-1hour).
If Amtrak/New York State could get the time down to 6 hours (is it really that hard), I'd ALWAYS ALWAYS take the train over flying. Being able to work/internet/phone/eat/relax for six hours vs. "travel" for 4 hours. No question about it. I'd find the extra 2 hours in my day and I'd bet a ton of others would too!
The Empire Corridor is a targeted High Speed Corridor, but not much progress yet. Now...it's basically 8.5 hours Buffalo to NYP. Thats long. It's REALLY long compared to a 1h5m plane ride. Or is it?
Here is how my flight went:
Arrive at Buffalo Niagara International: 3:40PM
Flight Departure Time: 5:10PM
Touch Down at JFK: ~6:15PM
Taxing/Gate Delays, Get off Plane: ~6:30PM
Shuttle Bus from temporary gate to permanent gate, walk to JFK Loop Train, Ride train to Rental Car, Pick Up Car: ~7:25PM
Wow. So basically 4 hours and I'm still at JFK. If I wanted to get to Manhattan, I'd skip the rental car and either take a cab (another 50 bucks and 30 minutes) or take the subway from Jamaica Station into Manhattan (a few bucks and more like 45mins-1hour).
If Amtrak/New York State could get the time down to 6 hours (is it really that hard), I'd ALWAYS ALWAYS take the train over flying. Being able to work/internet/phone/eat/relax for six hours vs. "travel" for 4 hours. No question about it. I'd find the extra 2 hours in my day and I'd bet a ton of others would too!
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